Rounds

What are your thoughts?

I found this image of Christine Erickson interesting. A sitting Sioux Falls city councilor essentially endorsing a Senatorial candidate. While I don’t have a problem with her endorsing a candidate (even if he is a crooked snake) I question why she would want to emcee the event and put herself in that spotlight?

The one thing I have learned about following SF city government, whether you are Republican or Democrat it is always best to portray yourself as a non-partisan in the capacity of your service to the city.

It will be interesting to see how residents portray Erickson now and the decisions she makes as a councilor, no matter if Rounds wins or loses. Some will ask,

“Is Christine a puppet for the SD GOP? Will she treat Sioux Falls Democratic business owners the same as Republican business owners? Will her decisions be based on ‘Big Republican Government’ or common sense. Does she approve of how Rounds has handled EB-5?”

These are important things to think about when you are serving on a non-partisan body of government while out publicly endorsing party members. There is NO fine line. Endorse away, but stay out of the spotlight.

Not sure about you. But it has changed my opinion about her.

SCREENSHOT: Dakotawarcollege.com

erickon-emcee

Rounds is starting to look like his hero Reagan more and more everyday

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHXq8TRejow[/youtube]

Was Larry Pressler having a few ‘senior moments’ in yesterday’s ‘100 Eyes’ interview? He sure was. He talked about how our military should use more lasers and how the US military should stop giving our AK-47’s away (Hey Larry, I’m not even a gun person, but I think we use M-16’s). He also talked about how he voted for Obama instead of ‘Ted’ Romney (whoever that guy is). The best part of the interview was when he couldn’t decide whether he was pro-life or pro-choice (which really makes you pro-choice). Even with all of Larry’s fumbling about guns and abortion, I’m not as concerned about his memory loss as Governor Rounds. He seems to be pulling a Ronald Reagan lately.

I had a contributor to this post

Just look at Rounds’ involvement, with not only EB-5, but the No-Bid contracts legacy.

It’s interesting to note a bit of wiggle room in Mike Rounds’ statement given to KELO TV broadcasted on October 2, 2014. Many South Dakotans have tried to open the veil of secrecy of the No-Bid contract system of state government for many years. Marian Michael Rounds and Dennis Daugaard have opened the doors just a crack. Too bad it took an unusual suicide and the fleecing of international money to move it into the forefront.

He states there was no conspiracy. In the decades following the election of William Janklow in 1978, the Republican governors who followed worked the tried and true process of closing all pretenses of open government. Let me try to explain how questionable conspiracy has become such a way of life in South Dakota state government, those in power can no longer see it.

A hallmark of the 1970 election of Richard Kniep was “open the books”. The decades long good old boys club of GOP rule in Pierre caused the power holders to become sloppy during the Farrar years. The people of South Dakota finally had enough of it. The groundswell of support for cleaning up the mess brought a group of legislators to Pierre to do the cleaning.  The no-bid contracts, special access passes and other conspiratorial activities exposed during the 1970 campaigns gave the Democrats in power the mission to open government.

We began to hear things like sunshine laws, open meetings rules, open records acts and other phrases new to our ears. We had leaders with a zeal unmatched before or after to make government clean. The first 4 years of the Kniep administration moved the state into a modern reporting period. We also had a fantastic group of Republican legislators who were very helpful in accomplishing these goals, but make no mistake the leadership of the Kniep administration made open records, law.

The electoral success of Bill Janklow began the information dismantling process. We have been through two Janklow periods, Miller, Mickelson, Rounds and now the Daugaard terms where secrecy is the way of life. No more open government. No more answering questions. No more meetings records are kept. E-Mails destroyed (BTW, any IT person worth their salt would be able to go back to the years of backup tapes federal law requires them to keep to get the data).

Secrecy is such a way of life now in state government, Mike Rounds can look comfortably into a camera and say a no-bid contract signed by a state employee to himself is just fine because it keeps South Dakota competitive in the EB-5 world. His office’s receipt of the legal documents from California and his denial of notice add an interesting twist to his involvement. Janklow might have been able to convince the world of his ways but Rounds’ actions keep getting muddier. How many of you have been actually in the Governor’s office suite in Pierre. It is a small set of offices. The service of legal papers on the staff would create a bit of a stir. The main door to the private governor’s office is mere inches from the secretaries desk. The secretaries of past governors present items to the office with expediency. If the Chief of Staff accepts the paperwork, it is put immediately on the governor’s calendar.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiz20TR7qXk[/youtube]

We can be assured AG Marty Jackley has possibly performed a shallow investigation or likely none at all. What we’ll likely find out at some point after the November balloting are the results of the forensic work of the Federal investigators. The Federal investigations do not happen overnight or in public. Mike Rounds like the other governors tainted by the no-bid contracts they approve are currently hiding behind a very thin veil likely pulled back after the election.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FekSvXxnS4g&[/youtube]

To the suckers who believe the Mike Rounds “I see nothing” story here is what it sounded like from our childhood:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PibDMGxiyJw[/youtube]

When does the Marion Rounds standup comedy tour begin?

rounds-mike4

Rounds recently responded to Kevin Woster’s ’12 reasons’ questions and boy did I get a good laugh. Maybe he’ll take old Blogevich on the road with him?

Here are the top 12 reasons former Gov. Mike Rounds says you should vote for him in the U.S. Senate race:

1. I have a proven track record of leadership with a decade experience in the state senate, six years as majority leader and I was honored to work as governor for eight years.

So what you are telling us is that you were such a great ‘leader’ you knew nothing about what the Board of Regents, Joop Bollen and Richard Benda were doing with EB-5. Because you know, great leaders have no clue with what is going on around them.

2. When I was Senate Majority leader, I was part of a team that created and passed a 30% property tax reduction plan that’s still in place today.

And then you took that tax cut (which mostly went to farmers) and gutted education funding.

3. I’ve been in small business for over 30 years and I understand the ups and downs and how government affects business.  I’ll work tirelessly to reduce the amount of government overreach and to create policies that improve our economy and create good jobs.

You were so concerned about too much government overreach while governor you increased FTE’s by 1000 and had to use Federal tax dollars to balance the budget, all the while still having shared interest in your insurance company.

4. During my entire eight years as governor, America was at war. I’m a strong supporter of the military, a strong national defense and I have the highest respect for our military women and men, their families and especially the sacrifice they’ve made for our country.

Hate to break it to you Mike, but America has been at war, with someone, somewhere for over 100 years. It’s time we cut our military and end some of our occupations.

5. I believe we need to put government back into the roll our founding fathers intended by balancing the budget, reining in federal bureaucracies like the EPA, and limiting executive power by passing the REINS Act, approving and building the Keystone XL pipeline and repealing and replacing Obamacare, piece by piece,  with a patient centered, market driven alternative.

Yeah, how is the ‘market driven’ healthcare working out for you? Pretty good if you own an insurance company, not so well for patients who have to file bankruptcy anytime they need to see the doctor.

6. As part of a bipartisan team, we worked hard in our successful efforts to save the Ellsworth Air Force Base from closure during the BRAC process, and will continue those efforts to keep our military and Ellsworth strong.

I remember our Washington Delegation preventing that closure, while you dropped in for some photo ops.

7. I worked hard in securing a national lab designation for Sanford Lab, and a strong I’m (?)a strong proponent of creating better science opportunities for our children.

While gutting education funding.

8. I’m a proud father of four and grandfather of six  and Jean and I believe it’s  our responsibility to provide a better life for the next generation just as our parents and grandparents did for us.

While gutting education funding and rufusing to expand Federal funding for Medicare and Medicade.

9. I’m NRA A-rated and staunch supporter of second amendment rights.

10. I’m pro-life and pro-family.

I’m pro-gun and pro-life and pro-family. A family that shoots critters together, stays together.

11. I recognize the importance of clean air and water and providing recreational activities like hunting, fishing camping, and will continue to work hard to create even more opportunities for the next generation.

While proposing to gut the EPA.

12. I’m pleased to accept endorsements from: NRA, NFIB, US Chamber, Eagle Forum, National Right to Life, Family Heritage Alliance, Senator John Thune, Governor Dennis Daugaard, Governor Mike Huckabee and others.

Huckabee? LOL!